TCU at Oklahoma State is a Tarrant County All-Star game

TCU’s showdown with Oklahoma State on Saturday could mean the season for both clubs. No matter who wins, they’ll have another massive showdown with No. 3 Oklahoma looming, but whoever emerges victorious at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., will set themselves up to challenge the Sooners for the Big 12 championship.

There is another level at work here, however, and that is the slew of Tarrant County area players on both rosters. No. 16 TCU, of course, always does its best to mine the local high schools for top talent. The Horned Frogs have 20 players from the Tarrant area.

But the No. 6 Cowboys have made their presence known locally as well. They have 13 players on their roster from Tarrant County-area high schools, which includes Aledo in Parker County. The Texas Longhorns are the only other team in the Big 12 with that many local players.

Tarrant pipeline

Tarrant County-area players on the roster in 2017:

Of the 76 players on the rosters of six Big 12 schools, plus Texas A&M, 20 hail from Arlington-area schools. Oklahoma State has South Hills freshman twins Tracin and Tylan Wallace, Chad Whitener and Zachary Crabtree from Mansfield High, and Ja’Ron Wilson, Lemaefe Galea’i and Latu Maile from Trinity.

Whitener starts at linebacker, and South Grand Prairie’s DeQuinton Osborne starts at defensive tackle. Defensive end Vili Leveni from Hurse Bell also will see action. Crabtree starts at right tackle, and he could end up face-to-face with former Mansfield teammate Julius Lewis, a TCU cornerback.

OSU’s Tarrant connection

TCU’s Tarrant pipeline

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 12:46 PM with the headline "TCU at Oklahoma State is a Tarrant County All-Star game."